What has happened to us?
It's an easy thing to assume. That this world has gone to hell and is deteriorating at an increasing speed. The media has played a big part in the downfall of morality but what else? What else went wrong?
I was inspired to research this further after seeing a group of preteens boasting about their sexual conquests on the ever-popular MySpace. I was not only disgusted, but confused. I remember being twelve. I was still naive enough to be content with my life. I was innocent and wide-eyed, taking in the world eagerly. I remember just barely having an interest in boys. How could these girls have went so wrong? Of course I blamed the media and parenting but then I started to wonder how we let the media take control of our children, and how in some cases, parenting got so bad.
There were always bad parents, I'm sure. Parents that were confused, whose priorities were not in check. I can't help but think that the number of bad parents have been exponentially increased. Some people's opinions have to do with the feminism acts of the late sixties and early seventies. Mothers were encouraged to leave their children in order to get a job. Feminists argued that women were as capable as men ,and thus, should be employed. As an increasing interest in drugs and rebellion began to sweep the world, children were left at home to be influenced by the media, and their friends, usually with much less guidance from their parents.
Around the sixties drugs became a staple in pop culture. Artists such as Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix gave a face to drug culture. The youth, having
such impressionable minds, began to take after their favorite singers and bands. As drugs became more and more popular so did the idea of "free love". Something that made sex seem like nothing, or just another past time.
You could say morals began to deflate in the sixties. The 70's and the seemingly more conservative 80's, were just a stepping stone to our world now. When gang terminology is thrown around lightly. When drugs are more accesible than ever. When mere children our thrown into the danger of adulthood. All generations had their mishaps, even going back to the lost generation of the Victorian and post-Victorian ages, where soldiers and their families began to question every aspect of their society. But our generation seems to be just plain ripping at the seams and on the brink of falling apart.
This world is an uncertain place as of now. I hope that one day we can come around, maybe think back in disgust of what our youth went through, but sometimes I am not so sure.
I was inspired to research this further after seeing a group of preteens boasting about their sexual conquests on the ever-popular MySpace. I was not only disgusted, but confused. I remember being twelve. I was still naive enough to be content with my life. I was innocent and wide-eyed, taking in the world eagerly. I remember just barely having an interest in boys. How could these girls have went so wrong? Of course I blamed the media and parenting but then I started to wonder how we let the media take control of our children, and how in some cases, parenting got so bad.
There were always bad parents, I'm sure. Parents that were confused, whose priorities were not in check. I can't help but think that the number of bad parents have been exponentially increased. Some people's opinions have to do with the feminism acts of the late sixties and early seventies. Mothers were encouraged to leave their children in order to get a job. Feminists argued that women were as capable as men ,and thus, should be employed. As an increasing interest in drugs and rebellion began to sweep the world, children were left at home to be influenced by the media, and their friends, usually with much less guidance from their parents.
Around the sixties drugs became a staple in pop culture. Artists such as Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix gave a face to drug culture. The youth, having
such impressionable minds, began to take after their favorite singers and bands. As drugs became more and more popular so did the idea of "free love". Something that made sex seem like nothing, or just another past time.
You could say morals began to deflate in the sixties. The 70's and the seemingly more conservative 80's, were just a stepping stone to our world now. When gang terminology is thrown around lightly. When drugs are more accesible than ever. When mere children our thrown into the danger of adulthood. All generations had their mishaps, even going back to the lost generation of the Victorian and post-Victorian ages, where soldiers and their families began to question every aspect of their society. But our generation seems to be just plain ripping at the seams and on the brink of falling apart.
This world is an uncertain place as of now. I hope that one day we can come around, maybe think back in disgust of what our youth went through, but sometimes I am not so sure.
so true
I am a guide on camps with children
and my first camp I did, I had 14 year olds with me
and they were awesome.. but... those hormones just take control..
there was a 14 year old that has had sex with a 19 year old after dating for 2 weeks.
and really... they are oversexed
champagne supernova*, September 12th, 2007 at 08:35:04pm
I think it's the further development of the internet. Mainly MySpace, that's made preteens like this. They see everybody else on MySpace and all over the internet doing it, so they say they do it too, just to fit in.
I never got a computer until I was 13. And even then the only internet site I would go on was Neopets.
Children spend too much time on the computer nowadays. It wasn't like that when I was younger.
vonny, September 10th, 2007 at 03:30:25am
Since the invention of "the pill" women have experianced sexual freedom. Though I hope no pre-teen is on the pill *shudders*
Minority_Under_Dog, September 10th, 2007 at 01:55:22am
I live in Southern California...so I guess we are a bit more liberal about these sort of things.
whatwasithinking, September 10th, 2007 at 01:28:51am
If we didn't have Paris Hilton and those other pathetic celebrities, then yes, the world wouldn't have been as drastic.
But you've got to think--what will happen in the future? The future will probably increase in this sort of department, so we might as well just thank ourselves for how it is now, as hard as it may be.
Maybe the girls you saw have bad surroundings. Of course, if I read it correctly, you did note that in different wording. I know that at my old school, everyone was on drugs and having sex. It was because of the area--and the stupidity of the teachers. My new school, though, is the total opposite.
Kyra, September 10th, 2007 at 01:26:39am
I've had none of those happen to me, I dont even really watch tv, And movies dont influence me at all, But, Im not all innocent.
The world is changing at a rapid rate, I just think we have to keep up, No matter how stupid the changes are.
Tholomew Plague, September 10th, 2007 at 01:21:38am